Purple Lipstick

Hi! My name is Tapiwa Gambura, and I'm an artist. I'm 14 years old, well turning 15 on the 9th of October, and I learn at the Dominican Convent High School in Harare.

I'm a writer, I'm an actress, I'm an aspiring photographer, I'm a musician, and I'm African.

I love all things artsy, writing, drawing, painting, astrology, playing my violin, and acting. Acting is my life, my passion. It's like the stage calls me. What I love about the stage is that I don't have to be me. I'm allowed to forget about me for a moment in time, and be whoever I want to be, whenever I want to be, and however I want to be. It's my way of talking to people, reaching out to people. It's my form of meditation - I like to call it artistic relief.

What I hope to achieve in life, besides becoming an actress, is to be able to have inspired somebody to have explore their wide futures. To have taught someone something, anything, and to have made someone love them self, and proud of themselves.

Many people don't love themselves, especially children of African descent or African in general.
I want African people to reach their full potential. I want us to be unafraid to embrace ourselves fully. To be proud of our rich skin, no matter how dark or light it is. I want Africans to be able to grow out their natural hair, without thinking of it as wiry or 'too kinky' or ugly. I want girls to be able to grow past the misconception that they are lesser than the man or unable to have big dreams.

Exactly.

I want Africans to dream big.

So that's me, basically, just a regular African girl, with big dreams and the desire to be somebody worth reading about.


Tanatsei Francisca Gambura is the name I was graced with on the 30th of January in 1999. I'm a seventeen-year old Zimbabwean girl, an aspiring actress, writer, poet, spoken word artist and graphic designer. I'm also interested in Model United Nations and international diplomacy. I founded the 25 May Movement and wrote the poem "We Are Africans." My vision is to play a part in the great turn around and transformation that awaits Africa by being the catalyst that changes people's perspective about this blessed land. An artist at heart, I'm attracted to all things creative, inspiring and innovative. I enjoy all forms of dance and music, but listen to reggae the most. The more leather jackets and combat boots part of me is dedicated to the Arctic Monkeys. I am always excited to meet new people and have a conversation with them over a cup of coffee or a glass of lemonade. I am an academic who believes in the reconsideration of the global education system. I'm passionate about happiness and making other people happy. My life purpose is to serve others and share my gifts with them. I am a member of an organization called Rudimbwa that exists to make a positive difference in the lives of less privileged children. I'm happily a frequent blood donor, aiming to join the Pledge 25 club. I donate blood because of the value I put in human life. I believe in freely giving that which I have freely received. I am inspired by revolution. I advocate for freedom of being without the fear of external opinion and judgement. My biggest personal achievement would be to successfully complete everyone my three-hundred-item bucket list. I am more spiritual than I am religious, but I believe in natural hair and sunflowers. Om Shanti.

Studying abroad is one of the most exciting things you can possibly do! Meeting people from different cultures, trying out new foods that leave your tongue tingling and having your breathe taken away by magical sites. All of these things are part of the perks of learning outside of your home country.
 The major problem most of us face is how to pay for it all? There are a tonne of universities charging crazy amounts of money and housing and accommodation can be an additional headache. Luckily the team here at Purple Lipstick came up with 3 tricks that can help you study abroad for cheap and in some cases for free!!! Lets get into it then :)

1. Learn a New Language!



This is a MAJOR KEY (haha!) Learning a new language is one of those things that can almost guarantee you the ability to study abroad FREE OF CHARGE! Most countries in the EU offer free tuition at their universities the only catch is that you have to speak their language. Germany is one of those countries. They recently declared that tuition will be free for both nationals and international students. A great tip would be to look for a tutor online or in person who can help you pass the language tests and feel comfortable enough learning in the language. I'd suggest you take at least a year to do this!
The Confucius Institute at the University of Zimbabwe offers Chinese lessons for affordable prices. Completing the language course makes you eligible for a number of scholarships from the Chinese government to study in China for free, as well as having your flight, accommodation and meals paid for!
If you can think of a country that speaks a foreign language, grab your laptop and google their public universities. Nine times out of ten they will offer either free or relatively cheap courses for foreign students who are willing to study in their language. Here's a link to a list of schools that you can study at absolutely free or for very cheap once you've learnt their languages http://www.topuniversities.com/student-info/studying-abroad/where-can-you-study-abroad-free

2. Timing is Everything!



If you're planning to study abroad its important to start your search as early as possible! There are so many scholarships available to international students, but most times students miss the deadlines. Its important to start researching about the schools and places you want to go to at least a year in advance! If you're planning to start school say in September 2017 you should have started looking into schools already! If possible apply for early admission, this increase your chances of getting scholarship! That means you should try your best to have started applying or seriously looking at one school by November 2016, even if your results are not out yet!
Scholarship options start opening up around that time to up until maybe May of 2017 so be on the look out for those :) A great way to get in the right gear would be to follow our Wednesday Scholarshipson Facebook. We post scholarship opportunities months before they are active to make sure you're ready when the time comes to apply for them. Another way would be to join our whatsapp Wednesday scholarship mailing list. To do this just send a message to 0777498063 and ask to be added to the list :)

3. Look All Over the Place



What I mean by this is apply to a wide range of schools. If you are really smart or really good at sports don't just apply to the top schools. Make sure you have a couple of schools to choose from. This applies especially to U.S. American schools. People tend to apply to lots of Ivy League or Private schools and then not have a back up. Ivy League and private colleges are great but are usually super expensive and even if you get in the tuition fees you end up paying are usually really high.  Sate schools on the other hand are fairly cheap and as an International student you can pay as little as $6000 a year if you look at the right places. Actually here's a link for some of the cheapest schools for you to study at as international student in the U.S. http://www.bestcolleges.com/features/lowest-out-of-state-tuition/  Research each schools ranking and reviews so that you are aware of the pros and cons of studying at a cheaper university or college. For the most part there is not much of a difference.
Also check places to study around the world. Places like India, Russia and our own beloved Africa have universities that are extremely affordable to their Western counter parts. Make sure you  try to cover all your bases, like I said before look all over the place :)

*2 Bonus Tips ;)*

Just because you're so great, here are two extra tips ;)

4. Find a Job at the College you're going to!

If you have already gotten into a college or university, the minute you settle in look for opportunities to work! Sometimes colleges give you the option to sign up for a job even before you arrive...DO THIS! Being a Resident Assistant (RA) is probably the first and best thing you should try to be. Most schools give RA's free accommodation and in some cases meals. This can help cut your overall costs in half! Also look around campus for jobs or ask your professors what you need to do to get a job maybe even helping around campus! Having more money means you don't have to worry so much about you're parents taking care of your day to day needs :)

5. Get Good Grades

Once you're already at school you need to work hard and try to get the highest grades you can. There are often scholarships that are given out to students that are already enrolled and have high enough scores. Make sure you look for these scholarships and ask around to see what the requirements or application process look like. You can go to the financial aid office to ask for help, they are usually pretty friendly :) Getting an additional scholarship half way through the year would be another great way to save costs.

I hope these tips have been useful. If you have any questions leave them in the comments and I'll try to answer them as best as I can :)

I remember sitting in a church service once, it was a women’s conference with flowery walls and upbeat music. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming and it felt like a safe place where magic could be sparked amongst sisters. The good vibes continued throughout the day until one woman came up and began to speak on the topic of modesty. Now, I was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, but I immediately felt uncomfortable when the preacher started to call out particular styles of dressing. Tight jeans and “spaghetti” strap tops were amongst the items condemned as being attention seeking devices to attract men. Throughout the talk I was cringing internally. Zimbabwe gets hot, that day was no different. As you can probably predict there were girls in the crowd that had spaghetti strap shirts on. Heads bowed or cardigans quickly pulled on they continued to listen to the message, avoiding eye contact with the women around them glancing over at their poor choice in outfit. Shoulders to me do not seem immodest. I believe many of the girls wearing the tops thought the same. I literally felt love leave the room. I felt safety leave the room. The preacher that spoke was not Zimbabwean.

How do we define modesty? I googled it…
“Modesty and demureness is a mode of dress and deportment intended to avoid encouraging sexual attraction in others; actual standards vary widely. In this use, it can be considered inappropriate or immodest to reveal certain parts of the body.”
Reading from this definition I think the more appropriate question would be who gets to define the standards of modesty?

 Many people might believe that religious leaders should have this privilege, but where do they draw their standards from? From the Bible? (I’m singling out Christianity in this case because Zimbabwe is 80% Christian and it is my own religion so I’m trying my best to speak about something I have personal knowledge about.) Today we read the Bible in context, that is with the awareness that it was written with an early Middle Eastern society’s culture in mind. The early European church didn’t seem to mind deviating from Middle Eastern standards of modesty however they made it a point that women could not wear trousers. Where did they get this from? Today we’ve clearly deviated from both these standards but we’ve decided to place a particular ban on spaghetti strap shirts.
So if not the Bible, where do religious leaders like the pastor speaking at the women’s conference derive their definitions of modesty? In my opinion the answer here is culture. In America wearing shorts is viewed as normal in a number of communities. Conversely, growing up my grandmother literally shouted at me one afternoon for wearing shorts at home because it was so immodest. The same thing goes for bikinis, it is very rare to see a Zimbabwean woman in a bikini, whereas in a lot of countries bikinis are even worn by small children. There are parts of Africa where it is normal for women to walk around topless, in the same way it is normal for most of us to see men shirtless. Ballerina’s leotards make me uncomfortable but are celebrated in a western context.

What I want to emphasize here is that cultures and hence standards for modesty vary immensely. Even within Zimbabwe individual people groups, individual families define modesty uniquely. Therefore the intentions a girl in Epworth may have when wearing a particular outfit could vary from the intentions or thoughts a girl in Harare would have wearing that exact outfit. What this means is that even in this article I cannot dictate to you what modesty looks like. I have no way of judging your intentions and neither does a preacher on a pulpit. I’m not here to say that we shouldn’t care about what we wear and its effect on the people around us, we should! However it’s important to understand the reasons behind it, take it in context and stop shaming and trying to control other women because they do not match our personal standards.

It has to be out of a woman’s personal discretion (taking into consideration her cultural upbringing, religious views, preferences and common sense) to OUT OF LOVE think about the way her body affects the people around her. Let women think for themselves. Our bodies should not be made a shameful thing. Let’s first and foremost concentrate on showing each other love, kindness and compassion. Before you tell that girl how awful she is for wearing a short skirt, maybe think about how you would like to be approached in a situation like that. Do you have a relationship with this person or are you making assumptions from your own world view. Create safe spaces, create loving communities, cultivate understanding and mutuality. If you really think someone, mind you this applies to women and men, is intentionally sexualizing themselves think about why they are doing it and love them as you love yourself. TREAT THEM AS YOU WOULD TREAT YOURSELF. If I leave you with anything today it would be this love your neighbor as you love yourself.

In Love Always
Marly